Out of Albia
by Orange Sulphur
Summary: A norn, ettin, and grendel decide they've had enough of being part of a computer game. (Yeah, so I suck at summaries. Sue me.)


Authors note: Ok, I have a few things to say. First of all, I don't own Docking Staion or Creatures. Nor do I own the brand name cerals and toys and stores and the like that I made minor references to in the story. Second, we're going to pretend that an agent-creator actually does exist for the purpose of this story. And last, if you want to know where this thing came from, its based on a dream I had soon after I bought Creatures 3. My dream was considerably more violent, but it wouldn't make much sense if it were in exact dream form. And please be nice, this is my first fic ^^;  
  
  
~*----*~  
4:00  
~*----*~  
  
  
"Me exmly bibble."   
  
  
Tryst, a Bengal youth commented. [Tonight, Splicing Pods.]  
Orange obliviosly took it for the Nornic babble of a creature who had not been taught to use English yet, but Xirtam understood it perfectly.  
  
  
"Urrh un bilp." Replied Xirtam, an adult grendel. [Gotcha. Pang Tal coming?]  
"Pupu elel." Tryst turned and began walking away, towards the lift, so Orange wouldn't suspect they were conversing. [Of course.]  
  
  
~*----*~  
Later that night  
~*----*~  
  
  
Through the cold metal corridors of the ship, two shadowed figures stole through the dark, moving swiftly towards the splicing pods. The larger one tripped and made a pained gurgle, and the second one, a smaller and pinker one, frantically hushed it.  
"Try to me more careful, Xirtam. We don't want the others to think we're up to someting."  
Grumbling, Xirtam stood up and the two set off again.  
  
  
When they reached the splicing pods, Tryst was already there, tapping her foot impatiently.  
"You certainly took your own sweet time, didnt't you?" Without waiting for an answer, she whiped out a dark blue, squarish gadget. "I've got it all figured out. Orange left her agent-creation device in the Capillata hub, and I edited the medical transporters to get us off this ship. All you have to do is press that button, then that one, and that one there. And your out. I'll go last."   
  
  
She handed the transporter to Pang Tal. Hesitantly, the ettin took it and pressed the neccessary buttons. The gadject hummed and whirred. Pang Tal was enveloped in a writhing sphere of blue light, and then she dissapeared. Tryst picked her invention up where it had fallen, and handed it to Xirtam, finally using it herself after he, too, vanished with a loud *pop*  
  
  
~*----*~  
The next morning  
~*----*~  
  
  
"Hey, Raja, I thought I put you out last night.." A small, skinny girl with wire-rimmed glasses and short, tightly curled reddish hair opened the door to her computer room and walked over to the orange-and-black striped body curled up on the sofa. She gave it a pat on the side, then did a double take. Last time she checked, her cat hadn't had that tuft of white fur on the end of his tail, nor had he had that curly mop of hair on top of his head, or the ridiculously long ears.  
  
  
She glanced involuntarily at her computer, which was focused on a gaggle of bruin and civet norns mindlessly kiss popping each other next to the duplicator, and shook her head. It was impossible to tell with the thing all curled up like that, but it almost reminded her of..  
  
  
She looked back at the animal on her sofa, and her mouth dropped open. It unfurled, gave a large yawn, and huge, emerald-green eyes slowly opened to focus on her.  
  
  
"Pang Tal, wake Xirtam up and bring him over. Orange is here." It said, turning to look towards an over stuffed lounge chair wedged in the corner. A smooth pink body slipped clumsily over the arm and stood up. Orange gaped. It was an ettin, no doubt about it   
"Surprised to see us, eh?" The ettin grinned. Orange's eyes rolled back up into her head, and fell to the hardwood floor in a dead faint.  
  
~*-----*~  
10 minutes later  
~*-----*~  
  
  
Orange awoke to what felt like someone clubbing her shin with a baseball bat.   
"Xirtam, knock it off! That's not going to work, here!" A high-pitched ettin voice protested. The clubbing stopped.  
"It always works on Krenta when she falls asleep..." A rough bass muttered defensively.  
"Let me point a few things out to you. Number one, Orange is NOT a grendel. And number two-"  
"Hey! She woke up!" The ettin voice came again.   
  
  
Orange blinked her eyes opens and stared at the odd assembly clustered around her. She groaned and rubbed her temple with the heel of her hand.  
"I have been playing WAY too much Creatures." She said to herself, pulling herself weakly into sitting positon. "This is one odd dream..."  
The creature she had seen on her bed stood up.  
"I assure you, Orange, this is no dream. My friends and I, being unquestionably more intellegint than the average norn, grendel, or ettin, were very curios about your world. And, frankly, we have all had it with the Capillata." Orange stared.  
  
  
"You.. are Tryst.. " She said, after she had got her voice back.  
"That is the name you gave me, yes." Tryst agreed. Dumbstruck, he looked over at Pang-Tal, who was incredulously inspecting an electrical socket in the wall.  
"That's Idari.. no, too young.. Pang Tal?" Pang Tal looked up and smiled again.  
"The one and only...I think."  
  
  
"And the grendel is Xirtam." Orange paused. "Hey, if you guys are real, and my brother didnt just slip some drugs into my cocoa puffs, how did you get here? I mean, out of my computer game?"  
"Thats simple." Tryst sniffed self-importantly. "I fiddled with your agent-creator and came up with an agent that would transport us from there, to here. Quite simple, acutally. All I did was revise the makeup of the medical transporter, so it would-"  
  
  
"No one cares, Tryst. Hey, Orange.. " Pang Tal abandoned the electircal socket and leaned her elblows on Orange's knee. "Got anything to eat?"  
  
  
Orange limped into the kitchen, favoring her grendel-bruised leg, and swung open the refrigerator, ,mentally thanking whatever higher power there was that her parents and brother had work today.  
"Alright, who wants what?"   
"I want mushrooms. Make sure they're not too small, though. Those ones are salty."  
"Hmm.. some desert grass seeds would be nice.. maybe some justanuts, too. Yeah, that sounds good."   
"I'd prefer some fresh carrots -diced, mind you- and some chilled bramboo fruits, with a side of lemon slices."  
Orange blinked, staring down at the three expectant creatures.  
"Uhh.. I have some donuts.."  
  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Orange was sure she knew how day-care workers felt. Tryst, Pang Tal and Xirtam were seated around her dining room table, boosted up on all the phone books she could find. Tryst was daintily picking at a wedge of canteloupe, which she insisted Orange smother in honey, and sipping some sparkling cider left over from New Year's. Pang Tal was eating a bowl of Trix, though her hands were a bit too small to hold the spoon, and she got more ceral all over her lap than she actually got in her mouth. Xirtam was, by far, the messiest of them all. Orange had dug up some week-old cupcakes for him, and he was euphorically spreading it all over his face and claws, slopping milk all over the table every time he picked up the sippy-cup she'd given him. Orange sat in between Pang Tal and Xirtam, leaning her head in her hands.   
  
  
"So, what are you guys planning to.. do, while you're here?"  
"Live with you, naturally." Tryst explained.  
"What? You can't do that! My parent's will eat me alive! Not really. Its figurative language." She added, seeing Xirtam's worried expression. "But really, you guys have to go back! You know how many scientists will be throwing fits to get you? I'm sure my biology teacher would love to get his hairy old hands on a real, live norn!"  
"Well, then you'll have to keep us a secret then, won't you?" The Bengal norn replied condescendingly. "It can't be much harder for you to take care of only three creatures in your world than it is to watch after over a dozen on your computer. Am I correct?"  
Orange sighed deeply, and ran her hand through her hair.  
"I'm sorry, I really am. You can't stay. Now, the first thing we need to do is figure out what we need to get you back into my computer. Pang Tal wrinkled her nose.  
"I don't want to go back. Your world looks funner."  
"More fun." Corrected Tryst absently.  
"The other ettins in your computer are stupid. They can't even speak correct English." Pang Tal continued, completely ignoring her friend.  
"And the norns aren't much better. 'Me push norn,' 'Me eat fruit.'" Tryst mimicked biterrly, licking honey off her fingers. "Besides, even if I wanted to, I don't know how to get us back."  
  
To be continued. Probably. 


End file.
